Features

When a lawyer makes a serious error that adversely affects a client’s case, the lawyer must take certain steps. The authors discuss a lawyer’s obligations under Wisconsin’s professional conduct rules and offer practice suggestions on how to handle difficult situations.

Although the Internet is an important tool in the health-care field, legal issues related to medical record privacy and confidentiality, health-care quality assurance, and medical e-commerce need to be resolved through regulation to protect health-care providers and consumers. Here is an overview of some important areas that require tighter controls.

In Farmers Automobile Insurance Ass’n v. Union Pacific Railway Co., the Wisconsin Supreme Court set forth the standard for vacating or modifying insurance policy appraisal provisions used to set value for claimed losses. The court also tackled discovery and standard of review issues.

Most exonerees lose everything in their legal battles to prove their innocence and gain their freedom: financial security, family ties, reputations, and more. Once the thrill of freedom fades, exonerated individuals face the hardship of rebuilding their lives and reintegrating in society with little preparation and support. The Wisconsin Exoneree Network is working to change that reality.

On March 8, 2010, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will hold a public hearing and open administrative conference to consider the State Bar’s 2007 petition to define the practice of law and provide an enforcement mechanism. Contact the court today to urge it to adopt the petition to protect consumers from the unauthorized practice of law.

Most lawyers have heard of electronic discovery and are aware of changes to the federal rules of civil procedure, and proposed changes to Wisconsin’s rules, to accommodate the collection and use of electronic evidence. But most lawyers do not know how to effectively present electronic evidence to a jury – they risk confusing the jury with jargon, impeaching their experts, or boring the jury to sleep during their expert’s key testimony. Don’t let this happen to you.